Something happened last week, quite a low-key racing event, but the terminology used was very interesting and could well point to changes being made to one of the greatest races on the calendar.

To start the month, Jockey Club chief executive Nevin Truesdale spoke at a conference at Ascot, and the conference focus was around the challenge races have to keep their social license essentially, what racing needs to do to keep the public on side and prevent calls for the sport to be banned.

He was very forthcoming during the speech, but in particular, he made really strong points around the Grand National and how that was the key race that racing needed to get right.

The race has seen many modifications over the years, the most recent after the 2023 running, and his tone, plus the areas he pointed out, lead me to believe that he was laying the foundations for potentially more modifications to come.

Grand National the Key Social Barometer

I certainly think Truesdale has a point when he speaks about the importance of the Grand National. Eyes watch that race and don’t tune into racing for another 12 months until the race comes around again.

These people are not racing fans, more like casual sports fans, but they’re actually the people we need to keep on side. Otherwise, racing would be at great risk.

There’s a lot of talk about not allowing the minority to ruin racing and not bowing to pressure from the outside of racing, but ultimately, should the general public turn, then the race attracting the biggest audience is likely to be the starting point.

As awful as it sounds, purely from an image point of view, it would be easier for racing to have ten deaths on track at low-key midweek meetings than it would to have one in the Grand National.

The outcry would likely blow out of proportion and not be in line with the incident that happened, and that’s why racing needs to go over and above to protect itself.

In 2023, the biggest controversy surrounded the protestors trying to get onto the track, delaying the race for some time. A clean Grand National would have given them nothing to write about that year.

However, as many will know, Hill Sixteen suffered a fatal injury in the race, allowing protestors to pull out the ‘told you so’ card. These people will never be won round by racing, but the more ammunition they are given, the louder they shout, and the louder they shout, the more likely others are to hear.

There is a lot of talk about equine deaths in horse racing, and everyone matters greatly to those concerned. However, racing has to open up and acknowledge that there are particular races where any deaths would be used as ammunition against the industry.

You can come out swinging to protect yourself, but actually, the sensible way is to be over-cautious and try to do all you can to protect the key events that get the most interest.

Are Grand National Changes Coming?

What I thought was the big giveaway in Truedale’s speech was the fact that he spoke about the Grand National and said it’s a race to be proud of but also one where we need to maintain its acceptability in the wider society.

Does society accept the Grand National right now? I think the answer is yes. Although he quoted polling that had shown a worsening public perception of the race and, more than half of the people asked described the race as either cruel or fairly cruel.

That wording will certainly have rang alarm bells for some people.

Couple those two together, the need to maintain the Grand National as something that is accepted by the broader public while also seeing that more than half of the public deems it to be cruel or fairly cruel, and you can see the direction in which this is heading.

I don’t think we will see any changes ahead of 2025, and I think the race will go ahead as it did in 2024.

However, if polling continues, or if we have another incident take place that results in a race casualty, then I think it’s clear we are going to see more chances and modifications to the race.

This could mean the race is run under even stricter new modifications than ever before, and the race, in some ways, is out of sync with others that take place.

But you have to remember how important the race is in the calendar and who watches it. Every race should matter, and every race should go off safely, but this is sport, and it doesn’t always happen.

I get the feeling that the Jockey Club will do whatever it takes to keep the Grand National completely safe and out of the news headlines.